Retractable handle with or without display to pull up woman&#39;s dress zipper, shoe tongue, and other tight fitting clothing

ABSTRACT

I disclose a retractable device to hold a tongue of a shoe at a distance when putting on the shoe or a zipper of a woman&#39;s dress. Particular embodiments include a retractable wire coupled to the tongue, a retractable band with a display coupled to the tongue and an attachment that allows a retractable holding device to hook onto the attachment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Applications No. 62/520,799 filed Jun. 16, 2017, with the title “TONGUE HOLDING DEVICES FOR PUTTING ON SHOES” and No. 62/577,398 filed on Oct. 26, 2017, with the title “RETRACTABLE TONGUE EXTENDING DEVICE”; the disclosure of both are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

PRIOR ART

The following lists some prior art that presently appears relevant.

U.S. Patents

Patent or Pub. Kind Issue or Pub. Nr. Code Date Patentee or Applicant D/511,692 2016 Oct. 25 Zubits, LLC 9,125,455 B2 2015 Sep. 8 Boa Technology, Inc. 8,713,820 B2 2014 May 6 Boa Technology, Inc. 8,516,722 B2 2013 Aug. 7 Walker; James Clair 8,256,143 B2 2012 Sep. 4 Nike, Inc. 8,166,675 B2 2012 May 1 Walker; James Clair 7,975,403 B2 2011 Jul. 12 Mercury International Trading Corporation 7,877,901 B2 2011 Feb. 1 Converse Inc. 6,449,879 B2 2002 Sep. 17 Nike, Inc. 6,278,378 B2 2001 Aug. 21 Reebok International Ltd. 6,158,096 B2 2000 Dec. 12 Bar; Oren 4,053,995 B2 1977 Oct. 18 Shein; Melvin 8,769,845 B2 2014 Jul. 8 Lin; Shu-Hua 8,745,901 B2 2014 Jun. 10 NIKE, Inc. 4,887,825 B2 1989 Dec. 19 Allen & Allen 3,982,613 B2 1976 Sep. 28 Robert H Wood 3,937,418 B2 1976 Feb. 10 Critelli; Frank 2,776,644 B2 1957 Jan. 8 R. E. Fontaine

U.S. Published Patent Applications

Patent or Pub. Nr. Kind Code Publication Date Patentee or Applicant 2017/0290301 A1 2012 Oct. 12 O'BRIEN; Carolyn; et al. 2017/0208977 A1 2017 Jul. 17 Vogele; Adam; et al.

The simplest shoe to put on, consisting of a sole and an upper, is a shoe without a heel section of the upper such as a clog or a Croc into which one can easily slide in a foot. Unfortunately, these shoes do not stay on, precisely because the uppers lack a heel section. Shoes with a heel section of the upper can be designed to open up wide so that the feet can slide in and then shut down tightly to keep the shoes snug on the feet. The mechanism of keeping the shoe open and then closing it is confined to the upper and typically includes a moveable tongue under a set of laces which allows the otherwise stiff upper to expand at the time of sliding in a foot and then contract once the foot is inside. Because feet slide into shoes in a forward direction, the tongue can be pushed into the shoe along the medial (longitudinally) and sometimes perpendicular to the medial (laterally) and irritate the foot by the bunching up or even bunching up so much as to prevent the foot from entering the shoe. One may also wants to slide the foot in without undoing the shoe laces. This is almost impossible to do without bunching up the tongue unless the shoe laces are very loosely tied.

The above references address the problem of the sliding of the tongue. U.S. Pat. No. 7,877,901 describes a shoe without laces to help slip on the shoe. U.S. Pat. No. 8,256,143 discloses an invention that keeps the center of the tongue in place via a lace retention loop attached to the tongue. U.S. Pat. No. 8,166,675 writes that “Other attempts at securing the tongue from lateral or longitudinal movement include slits in the tongue for the laces to pass through, which limit, but not prevent, movement and other mechanical devices to secure the tongue to the vamps or laces.” and discloses a tongue binding post and a centralizer band which attempts to keep the tongue somewhat fixed by means of an elastic centralizer band. U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,995 proposed similar lace retention loops. U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,125,455 and 8,713,820 and 6,449,879 describe other guides for shoe laces where the guides are attached to the tongue, as well as a shoe lace tightening tongue attachment. U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,516,722 and 8,166,675 describe a tongue centralization device which attempts to keep the tongue somewhat fixed by means of an elastic centralizer band.

The aforementioned are partial solutions to avoid having the tongue move far as you put in your foot. However, it does not make it any easier to put in your foot if the laces are tied or if the tongue is too rigidly centered—in which case you want the tongue to move up in a direction away from the sole. U.S. Pat. No. 8,769,845 describes a tongue with a guiding piece to make it easier to slide in the foot but this guiding piece cannot be controlled with the hand. U.S. Pat. No. 8,745,901 discloses a hole in the tongue through which a finger can be entered to pull the tongue up and U.S. Pat. No. 7,975,403 describes a “pull tab” to grasp the tongue in order to change the position of the tongue between an open and closed position. There are also ski boots with the loop attached to the tongue allowing for pulling of the tongue. These are better solutions but the user has to apply the force while the hand is on the shoe and the body bent over, making it unnecessarily difficult and thereby limiting the amount of force the user can apply.

My devices are improvements over these previous inventions. They also provide for an extra space that can be used for displaying an entertaining picture or an advertisement. U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,378 describes an LED device attached to a shoe for entertainment purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,096 describes a lace holder attached to the tongue with the possibility of an entertaining picture on top. My invention provides for a picture that can alternatively appear or disappear, making it more interesting, applying the fields of retractable tape measures or retractable portable projection screens to clothing.

My device utilizes retractability. Other uses of retractable devices with handles include lawn mowers and other pull start engines, extension cords as well as wind-up toys. While elastic bands inside pants are retractable, they do not have handles and cannot display a message and are designed for a permanent stretch rather than a temporary stretch. Suspenders display a message but are not retractable as they are being worn. U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,613 discloses a retractable device with a handle attached to a piece of luggage. This patent was only referenced in 23 other patents, mostly related to luggage, with the exception of U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,825 which has a similar handle for a skate board.

Retractable animal leashes (such as 2017/0290301 or U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,418 or U.S. Pat. No. 2,776,644) are the only other retractable devices that are meant to pull on an object having a handle, a retractable device and a coupling device. The retractable tongues (2017/0208977—nothing to do with shoes) are meant to have a retractable grabbing end but they are not retractable to a distance.

D/511,692 discloses a design allowing for a magnetic closure of the lace portion of the shoe instead of a lace closure.

Wetsuits have zippers that are difficult to pull on and “zipper leashes” are used to extend the zipper end. These zipper leashes are made out of non-elastic materials.

BACKGROUND—ADVANTAGES

According to one or more aspects, my article has one or more of the following advantages:

-   -   1. A shoe tongue is in effect extended, via a retractable         device, allowing for more convenient and forceful pulling on         tongues on shoes, ski boots, etc.     -   2. The retractable device that extends the shoe tongue can         display an image and becomes a new accessory     -   3. A retractable pulling device with a handle can also be used         for zippers on woman's dresses, boots, wetsuits, and to pull on         other tight fitting clothing.     -   4. Force on the articles of clothing can be applied with minimal         bending of the user's back suitable for everyone but also, in         particular for old users having a hard time bending over.

SUMMARY

I disclose a device to extend the zipper of woman's clothing when putting on a dress with a zipper and extend the tongue of a shoe when putting on the shoe. Particular embodiments include a retractable wire coupled to or built into the zipper or the tongue, an attachment that allows a holding device to hook onto the zipper or the tongue, a retractable display that allows both for pulling on the zipper or the tongue and displaying an image.

The advantages and features of novelty characterizing aspects of the invention are pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. To gain an improved understanding of the advantages and features of novelty, however, reference may be made to the following descriptive matter and accompanying figures that describe and illustrate various configurations and concepts related to the invention.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a retractable wire coupled to the tongue of a shoe. From U.S. Provisional Applications No. 62/520,799.

FIG. 2 shows a retractable wire coupled to the tongue of a shoe. From U.S. Provisional Applications No. 62/577,398.

FIG. 3 shows an example of second embodiment with a holding device hooked onto an attachment on top of the tongue of a shoe. The attachment is depicted as a black square and the handle is depicted as an arrow. From U.S. Provisional Applications No. 62/520,799

FIG. 4 shows a tongue extender pulled out from behind the tongue (left panel) and with the tongue extender attached to the back of the tongue (right panel).

FIG. 5 shows a tongue extender with a retractable display instead of a wire.

DEFINITIONS

Retractable member: the part of a retractable device that retracts, for example, a wire, an elastic band or a display.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain embodiments of the present invention include, but are not limited to:

First Embodiment

A first embodiment (see FIG. 1) is one in which a tongue of, for example, a shoe, comes with an attached retractable wire, effectively extending the length of the tongue when it is being pulled. This wire might allow a person to pull on the tongue from a distance that might be convenient for putting on a shoe. The length of the retractable wire might be similar to the length of a long or short shoe horn. The placement of the retractable wire can, for example, be on top of the tongue on the side facing outside the shoe, or inside the tongue, in the latter case the wire or a handle attached to the wire would probably protrude from the tongue.

In FIG. 2 is depicted such a retractable “tongue extending” device that can be attached to an existing shoe (after the manufacturing of the shoe in this case). The front of suspender clip 1 is attached to the shoe tongue and via 4 also attached to the retractable ID holder 2 (from, for example, US20080265082) using clip 53. 2, the housing of the retractable member string with a clip, is then attached to a ring 3 using the end clip 501 which is connected to the retractable string. To put on the shoe, one would, for example, use a shoe horn with a hook (from, for example, IKEA), having the hook attach to the ring 3 and pull it up and then hold ring 3 in one's hand, at about the same time put the shoe horn in the shoe and still being able to put tension on the tongue by holding onto ring 3. This allows a user to put on a shoe without bending down beyond the moment in which the shoe is picked up (and if the shoe is left on a shelf the user never has to bend down).

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment is one in which the tongue comes with an attachment that allows a holding device to hook onto the attachment and hold the tongue from a distance that might be convenient for putting on a shoe (see FIG. 3). The coupling of the shoe and the holding device may be, for example, by magnets, by Velcro, etc. The length of the holding device might be similar to the length of a short or long shoe horn. The placement of the attachment might be on top of the tongue on the side facing outside the shoe.

Third Embodiment

A third embodiment is a permanent attachment to a shoe tongue as displayed in FIG. 4. In the left panel is shown a shoe with a tongue 603, the elastic band 602 and a ring 601 for the person to hold onto the band. In FIG. 4 right panel is shown the elastic band 702 attached to the back of the tongue 705 (could also be attached to the front of the tongue or inside a tongue consisting of two layers of material) with, for example, zig-zag stitches 704 and the ring 701 allowing the person to hold onto the elastic band. A loop 703 centers the elastic band to the end of the tongue. As the tongue is pulled up, the elastic band is extended. The elastic band may display an advertisement.

Fourth Embodiment

A fourth embodiment (see FIG. 5) is one in which a retractable display 802 (perhaps similar to a miniaturized retractable portable projection screen or a retractable tape measure) is attached via the box 803 containing the display to the end of the tongue 804 and then attached to a ring 801 to hold the display and pull on the tongue. As the tongue is pulled up, the display is extended.

Fifth Embodiment

A fifth embodiment is one in which a retractable member is coupled to a zipper, for example the zipper in the back of a woman's dress or a zipper of a tall boot or a zipper on a wetsuit, so that the zipper can be pulled up without awkward bending or without asking another person for help. This can be done by having a retractable device as in FIG. 2 consisting of 2 and 501 where 501 is coupled to the zipper instead of to ring 3 and no other items in FIG. 2 are needed—the handle of the retractable member is the housing of the retractable member.

Sixth Embodiment

The retractable device can sometimes be dispensed of altogether and one can just use a long handle with a temporary coupling (using, for example, magnets or Velcro) to zippers to temporarily pull up the zipper while at the same time not displaying the full pulling device when such a display would be unattractive on, for example, a woman's dress. The Velcro would have to reside both on the zipper and on the handle but the magnet could reside just on the handle if the zipper is of a magnetic material such as iron or nickel, otherwise the magnet would have to also reside on the zipper. Similarly one can use a long handle with a temporary coupling to the tongue of a shoe (using, for example, magnets of Velcro on the handle and the tongue) to pull on the tongue why putting on the shoe.

Other Embodiments

The retractable member can be a string, wire, thread, chain, band, elastic band, or similar. The housing of the retractable member, or in case of an elastic retractable member the member itself, can be temporarily attached via a coupling to a clamp, or Velcro or magnets (neodymium magnets or other) or permanently attached via sewing, gluing or similar.

Other articles of clothing may benefit from these devices including ski boots that need to be pulled on, horse riding boots, and tight fitting gloves.

While I have used a ring or loop as the handle, there are many different types of handles that can be used, for example, bar handles, loop handles, and the shape of the ring could be, for example, square or elliptic and the material could hard or elastic. The handle on the retractable device connected to a woman's dress could be a jewel or other decorative object.

The handle can be attached to the retractable device either to the retractable member or to the housing that holds the retractable member.

When one of the items in the group clip, clamp or clasp is mentioned, another item from that group can be used as well.

Clips can be temporary like an alligator clip, or more permanent using some kind of fastener.

In FIG. 2, items 53, 4 and 1 can all be constructed in a single item.

The displays mentioned could hold, for example, logos or names of soccer players.

The retractable device can also be strong enough to function as a sports item in which retracting the handle strengthens muscles.

CONCLUSIONS, RAMIFICATIONS, SCOPE

According to one or more aspects, my article has one or more of the following advantages:

-   -   1. A shoe tongue is, in effect, extended allowing for more         convenient and forceful pulling     -   2. The retractable device that extends the shoe tongue can         display an image and becomes a new accessory     -   3. The retractable pulling device can be used for snow boots,         for riding boots, for tight gloves, for hats, for woman's dress         zippers, etc. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An article comprising: (a) a retractable device where the retractable member displays a member selected from the group consisting of image and no image, (b) a handle selected from the group consisting of handle coupled to the retractable member of said retractable device, handle coupled to the housing of said retractable member and housing of said retractable member, (c) a coupling member selected from the group consisting of magnets, Neodymium magnets, Velcro, clasp, clip, clamp and permanent attachment coupled to said retractable device, whereby a non-stationary object which is not an animal and not a piece of luggage can be coupled to said coupling member and be pulled.
 2. The article of claim 1 where the retractable member is selected from the group of string, wire, chain, band, and elastic band.
 3. The article of claim 1 where said non-stationary object is an article of clothing.
 4. The article of claim 4 where said article of clothing is footwear and said coupling member is coupled to the tongue of said footwear.
 5. The article of claim 1 where said coupling member is coupled to a zipper.
 6. The article of claim 5 where said zipper is coupled to a member selected from the group of a woman's dress, a boot, a wetsuit, a drysuit.
 7. The article of claim 6 where said zipper is located at the back of the said coupled member.
 8. An article comprising: (a) a retractable device where the retractable member displays a member selected from the group consisting of image and no image, (b) a handle selected from the group consisting of handle coupled to the retractable member of said retractable device, handle coupled to the housing of said retractable member and housing of said retractable member, (c) a zipper coupled to said retractable device, whereby said zipper can be pulled.
 9. The article of claim 8 where the retractable member is selected from the group of string, wire, chain, band, and elastic band.
 10. The article of claim 8 where said zipper is coupled to a member selected from the group of a woman's dress, a boot, a wetsuit, a drysuit.
 11. The article of claim 10 where said zipper is located at the back of the said coupled member.
 12. An article comprising: (a) a long handle with a coupling member from a member of the group consisting of Neodymium magnets, magnets and Velcro (c) a zipper with a coupling member from a member of the group consisting of magnets, Neodymium magnets and Velcro, so that the zipper can be coupled to the handle and the handle can be used to pull the zipper. 